Bibliography
Gardner, Averil. George Orwell. Boston: Twayne, 1987. Gives information on Orwell at the time of writing Animal Farm and a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of meaning and symbols as they apply to Russian history. Includes some criticism that Animal Farm received at its publication.
Hammond, J. R. A George Orwell Companion. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982. Features pictures of Orwell spanning his career and gives an extended reference to characters and events of Animal Farm as they compare to historical Russia. Considers the evolution of Orwellian philosophy through his novels and essays.
Hollis, Christopher. A Study of George Orwell: The Man and His Works, 1956.
Hunter, Lynette. George Orwell: The Search for a Voice, 1984.
Kalechofsky, Roberta. George Orwell. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1973. Has an extended section on Animal Farm about the corruption of the seven commandments of animalism and compares the themes of Animal Farm as similar to those of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Lee, Robert A. Orwell’s Fiction, 1969.
Meyers, Jeffrey. A Reader’s Guide to George Orwell. Totowa, N.J.: Littlefield, Adams, 1977. Gives a detailed account of the political allegory of Animal Farm, specifically with Russian history.
Norris, Christopher, ed. Inside the Myth: Orwell, Views from the Left, 1984.
Williams, Raymond. George Orwell. New York: Viking Press, 1971. Includes several quotes from Orwell and the criticism he received for Animal Farm. Also explains the difficulties Orwell went through in trying to find a publisher.
For Further Reference
Atkings, John. George Orwell: A Literary Study. London: Calder, 1954; Reprint. A Literary and Biographical Study, New York: Frederick Ungar, 1971. An early and insightful critical study of Orwell's work supplemented with biographical information.
British Writers. New York: Scribner's, 1984. Informative overview of Orwell's life and analysis of his body of work.
Crick, Bernard. George Orwell. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. The first author with direct access to the vast majority of Orwell's published and unpublished materials, Crick has produced an exhaustive biography and analysis of Orwell's literary development and reputation.
Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. Well-written and informative summary of Orwell's literary career with selected biographical information.
Hammond, J. R. A George Orwell Companion. New York: St. Martin's, 1982. Brief biography and literary overview in addition to detailed information and discussions of Orwell's fiction and non-fiction.
Lee, Robert A. Orwell's Fiction. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969. The first book devoted exclusively to analysis of Orwell's novels, omitting the non-fiction except for Homage to Catalonia.
Woodcock, George. The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966. Combining biography with critical study, Woodcock provides an insightful and richly perceptive analysis of Orwell's legacy as a writer.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Katharine Byrne, "Not All Books Are Created Equal: Orwell & His Animals at Fifty," in Commonweal, Vol. CXXin, No. 10, May 17, 1996, pp. 14, 16.
Jenni Calder, Chronicles of Conscience: A Study of George Orwell and Arthur Koestler, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1968.
Arthur C. Danto, "Animal Farm at 50," in New York Times Book Review, April 14, 1996, p. 35
Adam de Hegedus, review of Animal Farm, in Commonweal, Vol. XLIV, No. 22, September 13, 1946, pp. 528-30.
Stephen J. Greenblatt, Three Modern Satirists: Waugh, Orwell, and Huxley, Yale University Press, 1965.
Christopher Hollis, A Study of George Orwell: The Man and His Works, Henry Regnery Co. , 1956, pp. 140-53.
Arthur Koestler, "A Rebel's Progress To George Orwell's Death," in Observer, January 29, 1950, reprinted in his The Trail of the Dinosaur and Other Essays, Macmillan, 1955, pp. 102-5.
Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Gross, Miriam, Editor. The World of George Orwell . New York:...
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Simon and Schuster, 1971.
C. S. Lewis, "George Orwell," in Time and Tide, January 8, 1955.
Jeffrey Meyers, in his A Reader's Guide to George Orwell, Thames & Hudson, 1975.
Isaac Rosenfeld, review of Animal Farm, in Nation, September 7, 1946, p. 373.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. A Signet Classic. New York: Penguin Books, 1971.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., "Mr. Orwell and the Communists," in New York Times Book Review, August 25, 1946, pp. 1, 28.
Stephen Sedley, "An Immodest Proposal Animal Farm" in Inside the Myth: Orwell, Views from the Left, edited by Christopher Noras, Lawrence and Wishart, 1984, pp. 155-62.
George Soule, "Orwell's Fables," in New Republic, Vol. 115, No. 9, September 2, 1946, pp. 266-67 .
Edmund Wilson, review of Animal Farm, in New Yorker, Vol. XXII, No. 30, September 7, 1946, p. 97.
George Woodcock, in his The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George Orwell, Little, Brown, 1966.
Rees, Richard. George Orwell Fugitive from the Camp of Victory. Chicago: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962.
Schapiro, Leonard. The Russian Revolutions of 1917: The Origins of Modern Communism. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1984.
For Further Study
Sant Singh Bal, in his George Orwell: The Ethical Imagination, Arnold-Heinnemann, 1981.
Bal explores the universality of Orwell's novel and compares it to Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler.
"Beastly," in Economist, August 12, 1995, p 71.
Short review praising the novel on the fiftieth anniversary of its publication.
Northrop Frye, "Turning New Leaves," in The Canadian Forum, Vol. XXVI, No. 311, December, 1946, pp. 211-12.
An early review of Animal Farm in which Frye criticizes the novel for failing to explore the reasons why the principles behind the Soviet revolution failed.
Frederick R. Karl, "George Orwell: The White Man's Burden," in his A Reader's Guide to the Contemporary English Novel, revised edition, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1972, pp. 148-66.
Karl briefly discusses Animal Farm as a failed, predictable satire.
Peter Lewis, George Orwell: The Road to 1984, Harcourt, 1981.
Mainly a biographical work, profusely illustrated, that gives important background material behind the writing of Animal Farm.
George Orwell, "Preface to the Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm," in his The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell: As I Please, 1943-1945, Vol III, edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, Harcourt, 1968, pp. 402-6.
Important essay for understanding how Orwell came to write the book.
George Orwell, "Why I Write," in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four Text, Sources, Criticism, edited by Irving Howe, 2nd edition, Harcourt, 1982.
A significant essay in which Orwell analyzes his need to write.
Edward M. Thomas, "Politics and Literature," in his Orwell, Barnes & Noble, 1967, pp. 65-77.
Praises Animal Farm as a perfect fusion of the political and the artistic.
Media Adaptations
Animal Farm was adapted as a film by John Halas and Joy Batchelor and released in 1955.
Animal Farm was also adapted by Nelson Slade Bond for a play of the same title, Samuel French, 1964.